It’s a never-ending battle with WhatsApp and Telegram. Even though WhatsApp is the leader of instant messaging, Telegram is not too far behind.

Before deciding which app to use, discover what features Telegram has that WhatsApp lacks and vice versa. For example, WhatsApp only has voice messages, while Telegram has voice and video messages. Keep reading to discover what other ways they differ.

The layout for WhatsApp is arguably better, since you’re only one tap away from seeing your calls, status, contacts, and chats.

Why Use Telegram?

Privacy is crucial for many users, and Telegram knows that. That’s why the app allows users to create secret chats that have a self-destruct timer and don’t allow forwarding or screenshots. Select how long you want your message to last, and once the time is up, the message will disappear. The secret chats also use end-to-end encryption and leave no trace on Telegram’s servers.

Changing your phone number is easier on Telegram than on WhatsApp. Go into Telegram’s settings and tap on the phone option that shows your phone number. You’ll get a notice advising you that all of your data, media, messages, etc. will be transferred to your new phone number.

Your contacts will get your new number automatically if they had your old number and weren’t blocked by you. This is useful since it saves you from having to tell everyone that you got a new number.

Use multiple languages while messaging? With Telegram, it’s easy to have your phone in one language and Telegram in another. By going into the app’s settings and tapping on the Language option, you can choose from languages such as German, English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, and Japanese.

With WhatsApp, your phone and the app have to be in the same language.

Adjust Text Size and More

The bigger the text is, the easier it is to read. Both apps allow you to increase the size of the text, but Telegram can increase it the most. You can choose a specific number to set the size of the text.

Creating groups is another great feature both apps offer. But with Telegram you can add as many as 5,000 members, whereas WhatsApp only lets you add up to 256 people.

Ever heard of Telegram bots? If not, they’re third-party applications that you can only run while using the app. With these bots, you can do things such as create custom tools, integrate with other services, and more!

If you’re in a group with a lot of users, the notifications can drive you crazy. Many users find some peace of mind by muting the notifications. But what if someone mentions you? Telegram will only send you a notification if someone mentions you and only you.

When it comes to sending large files, Telegram gets the upper hand. With WhatsApp, you can only send files that are 16 MB or smaller, but Telegram allows you to send files up to 1.5 GB.

What Do They Have in Common?

The primary purpose of both apps is to provide the best instant messaging experience possible. With both apps, you need to register your phone number. They also offer features such as sharing videos, creating groups, sharing pictures, making voice calls, and messages.

Message delivery confirmation is another useful feature both apps share. They feature the famous check marks, but WhatsApp takes it one step further.

WhatsApp and Telegram allow you to copy, delete, and forward your messages. In this area, Telegram has the upper hand when it comes to the messages you send.

With WhatsApp, you have to re-type and re-send your message if you want it to be error-free, but that’s not the case with Telegram. Tap on your message, and below the forward option, you’ll see the option to edit and delete your messagesTelegram Now Lets You Delete Sent MessagesTelegram Now Lets You Delete Sent MessagesYou can now delete any messages you have sent using Telegram. Which should be of use to anyone who has ever sent a message while drunk or otherwise not thinking clearly.Read More. We all make mistakes, and it’s great to have the option to correct those mistakes.

For many, end-to-end encryption is a must-have in an instant messaging app. That’s why both apps currently have this security method enabled to keep your content safe.

Using Their Web Apps

Let’s face it, sometimes typing on your mobile keyboard is not the easiest. Typing on your computer’s keyboard is more comfortable, so you may be more inclined to use WhatsApp’s or Telegram’s web app. But which one should you use?

When you open Telegram’s desktop app, it looks very similar to WhatsApp except for a few differences. For example, the options to send files, pictures, stickers, etc. are all beside the text box at the bottom.

WhatsApp’s desktop app has the file sharing option at the top. It’s not a huge drawback, but WhatsApp should have all their file sharing options in one place like Telegram. It’s just more convenient that way.

Which Is the Best Messaging App?

While WhatsApp has more mainstream features, Telegram has more privacy-minded features. On Telegram, it’s also easier to create an anonymous account by buying a SIM card especially for Telegram and then using a VPN to connect.

On the other hand, WhatsApp has done quite a bit of fighting against mass surveillance. And WhatsApp just generally has more users than Telegram.

If being anonymous is critical to you, go for Telegram. But WhatsApp does tend to have more features.

What’s more important to you, privacy or large amounts of features? Which app is installed on your Android phone? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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mondli

February 9, 2018 at 11:49 am

telegram is the best app to use while whatsapp is not bad either, it is because of its popularity that many users are on whatsapp and that it supports a whole range of devices but truly speaking, Telegram is the best

I use both apps and what I noticed is that this article can not be more wrong than this!
Either you don't know what Telegram can do or you are intentionally saying less.
You should do more research and post this article again or, better, delete it!

Some great features of telegram!
1) telegram is cloud based messenger... u dont even need to make a backup... its there and is accessible from whichever device you use...
2)Its a shit to use "web client" telegram has hand made dedicated app for everything yoh can be on 2017 including chromeOS linux, windows, iOS, Android.
3)Backup feature is worst feature in whatsapp u've gotta to upload tons of data to their cloud and download them every time you switch you phone. if you missed the backup u'll lose every single stuff.. its all or nothing. but telegram puts you in control making everything integrated.. and as easy as download stuff from browsers
4) You can add commercial bot to manage banks. you can add bitcoin wallet bot. you can add photo editing bot including prisma.
you can download books/ movie/ songs. you can join global chats. you can join intrested channels (just like fb pages)
you can add votes, group manager (does stuff like warn, ban, welcome, kick, help, introduction stuff in a group by itself and fully automatic). In telegram u dont even need a single friend to get the fun started.
5) You can even save third party stuff in you telegram cloud..one of the greatest feature of telegram. found some great pic/joke/video/gif/media and want it to be stored for later use, just forward that stuff to yourself and its yours!
6) you can edit a sent message. and make more you stuff more dynamic.
7)you dont have to share your number to be friends or get joined in a group. you user name keep your number safe and act same as your number does in your whatsapp
8)supergroup are really super
9)telegram calls are superior
10)telegram have gif manager

In the end it would fine to say telegram is battling against features of facebook... than to whatsapp

Please fix this article! Your information is not accurate! You are not accurately portraying Telegram's features.

For one, using Telegram's web app isn't even necessary because they offer an extremely well updated desktop app for any OS. Telegram has native clients for every platform. Also you said that WhatsApp is better for GIFs because it is easily accessible from the keyboard. Are you writing this article based on what you've read about Telegram or have you ACTUALLY used this app? Both GIFs and stickers are accessible from the keyboard just as if not more easily than WhatsApp. Another thing is you don't need to buy a SIM card or a VPN to message anonymously. Your phone number isn't shared with anyone unless you choose to, but if you were over cautious you could just get a free Google voice number to make an account. As for a VPN you can connect via proxy directly through the app now. WhatsApp has been found to have backdoors in the past. Also it's a little suspicious that Telegram is blocked in countries where the government wants to have intel on all their citizen's communications while there is no restriction or even complaints with WhatsApp by the governments.

This article is less than a day old and you've already received multiple comments pointing out how inaccurate this information is. I'm not implying that you need to write that Telegram is better (although I very, very strongly believe that it is) but please fix your information about Telegram so people can make their own decisions. You have too many viewers to mislead them like this. If you would like help fixing this article or need current information about Telegram PLEASE contact me.

I have both installed. I love Telegram more than Whatsapp, you can use it on multiple devices & it doesn't eat your memory much like Whatsapp because of it using cloud base storage. You can even use Telegram on your other devices with your phone switched off.

Yeap. The worst review in the world. Telegram supports gifs and the option to delete sent messages are present since months (if not years). Supergroups can support 10000 users since last update. These people must try working and investigating before write a review.

Alright.. A few hints.. Telegram allows to format your text as well.. Not as much as whatsapp (strike through is not a thing) but it's still there.. Telegram does support gifs and did it much earlier than whatsapp.. Plus telegram uses actually mp4 files while whatsapp stays with gif files.. Mp4 are much smaller, smoother and the quality is better.. Just saying.. Telegram even allows you to create your own "gifs" by simply muting the audio of a video file.. Sadly the image editor of telegram wasnt even mentioned here which is superior to the one from whatsapp.. By miles.. Telegram does not have end 2 end encryption by default.. If you want e2e you need to start a secret chat.. Otherwise it's just server to client encryption... Whatsapp web version requires you to to have your phone on.. Whatsapp simply uses your phone as proxy to allow this functionality.. Telegram on the other hand works without it... Whatsapp desktop app is basically just a browser which displays the web version.. As it's filesize would suggest.. While telegrams desktop app is made by hand.. So yes.. Whatsapp has more users.. But feature wise is whatsapp miles behind telegram.. I didn't even mention many features since I don't want to write a novel here

Hi Furby,
I have to admit that I wish WhatsApp had the video message feature. I would definitely be one happy camper if it did. Hopefully, WhatsApp web won't require that you have your phone nearby too. WhatApp does have to learn quite a few things from Telegram.

The differences are deeper than that. Check Telegram FAQ for more info. Telegram has way more features than Whatsapp. And i could say 90% of Whatsapp new features from the last 2 years came from Telegram. Some of them are identical.
Also, a few corrections:
- You can format text on telegram too. Using shortcuts like ** __ or the @bold inline bot( it was possible way before whatsapp had this)
- Telegram cloud chats are synced between devices, you have access to the whole chat history including media and files. You don't need to keep a permanent local cache for that.
- Telegram supports Gifs since 2014, including Gif search, try the @gif inline bot.
- Telegram has read receipts. 1 check mark means delivered, 2 means read.

Check the Telegram channel feature and consider making a makeuseof channel there.

Hey Dan,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I just think WhatsApp makes it easier to know when someone has read your message by the read receipts changing color. WhatsApp also has the GIF option right there when you open the keyboard, makes accessing them a lot easier.

Hi Judy
The read receipt for Telegram has always been there, so i'm used to it. Their color depends on your theme (another feature for desktop and android)

You can access your favorite gifs in a specific tab for them. It's together with the emoji and stickers (another feature, soon in whatsapp)
It has support for gifs and media sent via keyboards (like gboard)

Whatsapp was made to be a SMS/MMS replacement. That's why it is single device, messages are delivered only once. All other features were added based on this concept. And the more features they add (files, gifs, stickers, bigger videos) more storage will be taken from your device and from your online backup (Google Drive or iCloud) as the chat history will keep building up.

Don't think Telegram as a IM app only, but also as news source (channels), tools(bots), backup (cloud storage). Supergroups now have 10k user limit, and more complex admin tools.
It is encrypted, multi device (independent), syncronous. And it is fast and lightweight.
You can enter public groups and channels and have only your username disclosed. Phone number is private for your phone-contacts.

They keep adding stuff, Telescope and Telegraph have a lot of potential for fast content delivery for everyone, not just Telegram users.

And their clients are open source, they have a well documented APIs for their service, bots, calls, their e2e protocol. They have integration with IFTTT.
So there is a lot of user created content ranging from stickers/masks to themes, bots. (inline bots are awesome)

Check Telegram Blog posts to see what they've added in the last couple of months.
There is also Telegram Geeks for more content about it.

Please fix the article. Telegram supports GIFs way better than WhatsApp and it does since 2 years! Then, please don't forget Telegram has a stand alone desktop client, and web version even works without phone connected. The, you forgot A LOT of features of Telegram. Really, it sounds like you used it for 5 minutes.

Judy is a tech fanatic that loves technology in general, but Android has a special place in her heart. Born and raised in Hollywood California, but loves to travel and read about any device regardless of its OS.